Should we grow our own food, even if it costs more? With tariffs pushing up prices, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo are back to battle over the Corn Laws, Britain’s 1815 ban on importing cheap foreign grain.

Malthus says a nation that depends on other countries for its bread lets someone else decide when it eats. Ricardo says banning cheap grain forces farming onto worse land, raises rents, and makes the landlord the only winner.

Which economist is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and which one’s toast?